A safe harbor of sanity and an appropriate indignation in the face of the political and social tsunami that's swept across America in the last 4 ½ years.
I haven't always felt this way. My earliest political memory is of Harry Truman and of his daughter Bess playing piano on our old black and white television. In that time every man wore a hat, and Truman's be-hatted presence is still alive in my mind, as are the pot-bellied men who collegially manned the polls at the George L. Horn Elementary school at Frankford and Castor Avenues. Mostly, I remember election day as a celebration and a chance to trash-pick Cuban cigar boxes from the cans behind the Republican Club.
For most of my life what I've wanted was to be left alone to nurture whatever fantasy I happened to be enamored of, and for most of my life my country obliged. I went to school and bought my first house with Veterans benefits.
Outside of my internal issues the social forces of the day struggled back and forth but were generally on an upward swing towards openness and more freedom, and even when it temporarily (can you say, Nixon?) went the other way the system was basically, if not completely benevolent, at least benign.
Except for a few unfelt and non-emotional political abstractions (my tendency has always been to lean to the left), I didn't have to worry about the state of our country; therefore, I felt protected and safe enough to pursue my fantasies and the things that had the most personal emotional impact. Furthermore, I had youth and what seemed an abundance of time on my side. Unfortunately, as I was doing so America as I understood it changed dramatically.
And just how changed has the U.S. Government become in my short lifetime?
For most of my life government (the steady Civil Service) was an authority whose expertise on any given issue or subject was mostly to be trusted. This is no longer the case.
From the FDA to the OMB to NASA to the National Archives, whose ranks are filled by men and women who have spent their lifetime in bureaucratic service to changing administrations, there's been a perverted and perverting influence asserted by the Bush Administration.
I'm not naïve enough to believe there hasn't always been attempts to use these agencies for political purposes, but the wholesale change I've witnessed is certainly extraordinary.
In short, they've bent and are bending the whole government apparatus to serve their policy, rather than depending on it for facts, figures, and expertise.
Don't like the numbers issuing from the Social Security Administration?... well, then just change them. Don't like the science behind findings issued by the government's own commissioned studies?... get an ex-oil lobbyist to change the wording.
Don't like the CIA giving you accurate intelligence information that conflicts with your political policy?... appoint a political hack as director and remove him from primary access to the president. The UN giving you fits?... appoint a paranoid sociopath as ambassador. And these are just some of the most egregious efforts.
Am I nuts? I don't think so. There's not a single agency in government affecting citizen's welfare, from health and safety to economics, that hasn't come under the pervasive and manipulative influence of this heartless administration.
What finally enlightened me was the fact that an imbecile like George W. Bush could become the President of the United States. It was clear, through public questioning before the 2000 election, that he was in the dark not only about U.S. history, but a total moron in regards to the rest of the world.
But for his illustrious family and their important connections, George W. Bush, whose qualifications barely rise above those of a door to door bible salesman, would be just another failed and failing entrepreneur. Not that there's anything wrong with failure, per se, but serial failure and willful ignorance should never be a president's salient trait.
Therefore, Dkos, when my spirits flag, is a reassurance that I'm not alone. For that I thank this reality-based community. Now, let's vote the bastards out!